1. Field
Example embodiments of the following disclosure relate to a three-dimensional (3D) imaging system for displaying a 3D image suitable for a user, and an image reproducing method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
When an object is viewed through a screen of a television during a movie, for example, or a computer screen during a game, the object, the figure of which is a 3D form, is viewed by a user in a two-dimensional (2D) form due to the flatness of the screen of the television or computer. However, in recent years, various methods have been developed to view an object in the form of a 3D stereoscopic image through a flat (2D) screen.
The 3D stereoscopic image that represents a 3D figure depends on the stereo vision theory through two eyes that enables a 3D sense of an object to be perceived by use of the disparity of two eyes, that is, the binocular disparity caused by the distance of about 65 mm between two eyes. That is, when each of the left eye and the right eye of a user views a respective 2D image that is related to each eye, the images of the two eyes are transmitted to the brain through a retina, and the brain fuses the two images, thereby reproducing the depth perception and the sense of reality.
As described above, in order to view a 3D image of an object from the 2D screen, a left side 3D image viewed from the left eye and a right side 2D image viewed from the right eye are obtained from a stereo camera, and a signal processing is performed on each image, thereby displaying a 3D stereoscopic image.
In general, the stereo camera uses two camera modules each having camera parameters (e.g., the size of the screen, the focus, the brightness, the sense of color, and field of view (FOV)) that are almost same in between the two camera modules in terms of hardware (H/W). In addition, by synchronizing the operation (e.g., capture, white balance and focusing) of the two cameras with each other, the disparity of images generated due to asynchronous operation is restrained at the most. However, the stereo camera manufactured as above is costly and is provided with a lowered freedom of operation, and in particular, has a narrow section of the cameras.
Therefore, there is a need for an improved 3D imaging system.